My DGS had a chick (hatched just after Easter) given to him that was having problems. We expected it to die but it is still holding it's own. It came from a very overcrowded pen. It sits all the time. It can walk a few steps but doesn't. It is very thin and has a very pale pink comb. We are keeping it in a 20gal plastic tub by itself. It is bedded in sawdust. We are feeding it 12% horse mix, whole corn, and soaked alfalfa cubes. It is eating very well. It is also drinking well. I am giving it the water off the alfalfa cubes and beet pulp we soak for the horses. It seems to be perking up a little bit and now and then it stands up for just a few seconds. I have palpated the legs and don't find any irregularities. It did have caluses under it's feet from the wire cage it was in. I carefully removed them. Any idea what the problem might be and should I be doing anything more (or less) for it?
Chicken question
I would try some Poly-Vi-Sol children's vitamins. Just a drop in slightly wet chick mash, stirred in. Sounds like he had a very rough start. I would also get chick starter mash or crumbs--it sounds like he is deficent in some basic nutrients and needs building up. Maybe also some crumbled hard boiled egg yolk. He must have a strong will to live.
i'd assume it had sprattle leg at hatch that was not corrected if it is about 5 weeks old now it is to old to correct usually. if i have them hatch with it i tie their legs together soon as i notice it in 3-5 days the ties can be removed. if it is not corrected by day 7 usually it doesn't correct and they stay that way.
they should be on chick starter till at least 10 weeks old. if given anything else they should have chick grit to help digest it. the protein content of the horse feed is way to low it needs about 20%. the only thing i feed mine at that age is medicated starter, boiled eggs, meal worms, and powdered milk. soybean meal mixed in would help also to pick back up on growth and for added protein but only till it's back to health a chicken cannot have it in a regular long term diet like a quail can.
hope this helps and the little one gets better,
silkie
Thanks. I have chick starter because I have the hen and with her 7 chicks and I am raising 10 baby ducks that were orphaned on the creek behind our house. I will also put a bit of sand in the sawdust bedding.
The chick could walk fine until the day it was given to us. I thought it may have gotten stepped on in the overcrowding.
basic question, is it under a heat lamp?
what breed? at first i was thinking a cornish cross, which would mean it AIN'T gonna do much walking anyhow...
hope he gets better soon!
Silkie, when you give them powdered milk, is it just plain dry? Thanks in advance.
GG
yes, just mix it in the feed. it's more of a treat but has alot of vitamins in it and they love it.
Cajuninky---Don't feed ducklings chick medicated chick starter. The medication will kill them, they cannot process the meds in it and it builds up in their livers (thats how I heard it anyways) either way it can kill them
Lorac, I too have baby duckiings, glad you mentioned this.
The people I bought them from gave us some starter until we can get to store, hope it's not medicated.
PS, they are one month old .
This message was edited May 15, 2008 10:57 AM
just mix it with cornemal or brewer's yeast or powdered milk and then get your own feed right away. that will reduce the amount of meds they take in, so prevent any health issues. if you have a goat, give them fresh goat's milk, they LOVE it!!!
So what do you feed the ducks instead? I don't know that what I have is medicated. I'll have to look into it.
"Spike" has lived in a wire cage covered with a tarp and heated with several light bulbs. Now it is in our barn with no extra heat but seems to be doing fine. It was up on it's feet a good while at a time today and is eating like crazy.
It is a white leghorn. I am hoping it is a pullet. It has a comb but not a very big one. The comb is getting pinker.
I sprinkled some sand in it's bedding today for it's gizzard.
Spike is doing better each day. Stood for a good amount of time on and off today. Even walked a bit. Eating like crazy. Acts like it's feet are tender. I am thinking more and more that the callusses (sp?) on the feet were the biggest part of the problem and that that led to being walked on in the overcrowded pen.
I snapped a few pics yesterday. Do you think spike is a rooster?
Congratulations on Spike's recovery! He (or she) is very cute.
Female Leghorns have pretty big combs, but in the female it is suppose to fall over to the side. Males have very large combs that stand upright. I'm not sure when this becomes apparent.
it's legs r to close together to be spraddle so it shouldn't be that. is it possible it is bumble foot? i believe it's a boy but i've not seen that breed that young so don't quote me on that. he is a cutie pie!!!!
Thanks for the info. What is bumble foot?
it's a staph infection. what did the calus's under the feet look like? was any white crud or pus looking stuff comeing out when u removed them?
Regarding the medicated vs. non-medicated starter feed:
We start our broilers (Moyer's Cornish X) out on Southern States non-medicated starter feed as mash and supplement that with Fertrell's water-soluble (DFV?) microbial preparation, mixed into fresh water each day making only as much as they will drink from day one. Additionally they start to receive starter grit at the end of the first week going onto dry food at the same time.
They are transferred out to pasture after a week or so depending upon weather. We process on the farm and package in vacuum bags. Currently we are able to command $3.50 per pound due to the conscience way in which these chicks are raised from the beginning.
Many thanks go to Joel Salatin who's methods we have adopted and modified to meet our needs.
Many folks are not aware that 70% of all Antibiotics produced in the world go into livestock feed. This would not be a bad thing, except the animal waste products are not typically processed in such a fashion that these man-made microbes are killed. Therefore many end up in water runoff from farms, "escaping" into our lakes, rivers and streams. Man made antibodies have been discovered in birds that live in Antarctica.
Folks who use medicated feeds would do just fine if they composted all their waste bedding ensuring a "cooking" temp in the range of 155% F. This kills the man-made antibodies but not many of the beneficial microbes that require a higher temp to kill.
It's next to impossible in my area to find non-medicated feed for chicks or game.
MollyD
I can find non-medicated game starter but not chick starter. Only medicated for them.
Must be local trends. I wonder if enough of us asked if they would order the non-medicated feed?
MollyD
ditto Ron!
Molly, yep!
I like choices. I hate being boxed in when I'm shopping.
MollyD
Up here they are not selling chick starter mash anymore, its all crumbles at all three places I can get it. And bantams I feel cannot eat that big of pieces so I either use a rolling pin and roll it like I did for the quail chicks or if I am in a hurry toss some in the blender. Either way I use the non-medicated. I am switching over to organic feed made locally in Vermont when the piglets get here. I figured if I am going to put them on it I will put everyone on it.
Haven't had a chance to find out about the medicine yet but the ducks are doing great. They are growing like weeds and starting to feather out. I came home from the barn and 3 of them had escaped their crate and were waddling around the living room. I put them all in the tub for a swim.
Spike is doing fine. Flying out of the tub if I don't have the screen over it. I had planned to get the chicken yard finished today but it was a case of "best laid plans of mice and men". The callusses under it's feet were not infected. Just rough and built up. It walks fine now just still a little gingerly.
The hen and chicks are fine. She flies at me every time I have to do something in her crate. "One o' deze daze, Alice..." LOL
We killed a copperhead in the barn hall today. It was about 18" long. Likely in there after mice. I don't mind the bull snakes, black snakes and king snakes. In fact, I like having them around. But those copperheads have ugly attitudes and they are dangerous.
medicated feed does not have antibiotics in it, it has ampollorum in it. which is a medication to prevent cocci. cocci is highly contagous and deadly to flocks.
Do ducks get cocci?
They do--it is a different strain than chicks get--and I don't think it is as common in ducks.
I asked the feed store employees if the chick starter was medicated--and they said no--but I am not sure they really know. They repackage it into their own bags so there is no real description on them. I guess I should get more assertive and ask to see the original bags?
i would refuse to buy it without the "proper labeling"...
r u shore they r not milling it themselves that's why it is in a bulk feed sacks? my feedstore does if u buy a certain brand of it but only theirs from their crops. they have their brands and they have like purina and the others. if they r milling it themselves then they should know what is in it and usually it is not medicated. if u don't want to use medicated and a more natural cocci helper u can use non medicated feed and add powdered milk to it.
This message was edited May 18, 2008 6:06 PM
Hi silkiechick! How much powdered milk? Full fat or skim? I don't think they are milling it themselves....I'll have to ask. Problem is half the time the only employee available is 17 and working part-time:0(.
soundl ike our feed store. they bagged the chick starter into lunch size paper bags and sold to folks who bought chicks. made more money that way too...
SC, did you say milk helps prevent cocci? isn't it a parasite condition? if so, mine should be doing really well with goats milk!
tf
i just use regular powdered milk from a bag, i don't know if it says. we started useing it a few years ago as a treat for them every so often just mix a handful in the feed and they went crazy for it and still do. i started useing it for added vitamins as a treat, to be honest i thought i was the only one who gave them milk,lol.
i saw not long ago i think on byc it was, like a few days ago others use it for cocci as a more natural source to prevent it. i don't know what's in it that would do it but i use both it and medicated. sometimes if medicated is not available i use just the milk with regular starter and i've never had it in my flocks. but my flock is raised on wire so that might help prevent it some to i'm not sure. i just found it real interesting. i'll have to see if i can find where i saw it see if there is details there about it cuz i only skimmed it. i don't know if it is a certain kind of milk or any milk not sure. i just thought it was neat seeing that when we been useing it for a few years now. the person who posted said powdered milk so i'm not for sure on the others.
i'll see if i can remember what i was looking up in search to find it and see if i can find it again.
silkie